A place for a tired old woman to try to figure things out so that the world makes a bit of sense.

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Things That Make You Go Wow!

The people of a district in Illinois have elected a real hero, a profile in courage, if you will, to be their congresswoman: Tammy Duckworth. She beat the incumbent like a drum even though he whined incessantly that she kept referring to her military service. It would be pretty hard to ignore her service, what with having her legs blown off after which she managed to land the helicopter she was piloting in Iraq.

And then, after a long stint of rehabilitation for her injuries, she entered politics, first as a gadfly and then as a successful candidate. She's made it clear that her new job doesn't intimidate her (via):

When Tammy Duckworth steps into Congress this January for her first term, she’ll be carried by two prosthetic legs – and the potent notion that if she can survive a grenade blast while piloting a chopper, she surely can endure any political flak on Capitol Hill.

“The worst day for me in Washington on the floor of the House is never going to be as bad as me getting blown up. So bring it,” said Duckworth, a Democrat who represents Illinois’ 8th Congressional District, the suburbs north of Chicago.

One of the first women to fly combat missions in Iraq, Duckworth’s Black Hawk was hit by enemy fire in November 2004 as the aircraft skimmed tree tops at about 135 miles per hour. The explosion vaporized her right leg, smashed her left leg into the instrument panel, sheering it off, and tore away most of her right arm. Before losing consciousness, she used her remaining arm to try to land the sputtering chopper. On Nov. 6, she won election to the U.S. House.

“There’s nothing anyone can say to me or do to me — short of actually pointing a gun and shooting at me — that’s going to be as bad as it was in Iraq and that year I spent recovering. So it’s really freeing,” Duckworth told NBC News. “Had you talked to me 10 years ago, before I served and got hurt in combat, I would not have the courage to do what I’m doing now.” [Emphasis added]

And if you want to see the picture of self-confidence, click on either of the links above: it's a photo of Congresswoman Duckworth in a skirt and shoes which almost highlight those remarkable metal prosthetic legs which enable her to walk into her new duties. The smile on her face should warm even the hardest of hearts. And it also should scare the crap out of her foes.